


The True Knots

by Sydders09



Series: Doctor Sleep (Dan Torrance) [5]
Category: Doctor Sleep (2019), Doctor Sleep - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Doctor Sleep Spoilers, F/M, Family, Friendship, Sad, Spoilers, True Knots, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:41:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23238643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sydders09/pseuds/Sydders09
Summary: You go with Dan to find the baseball boy. You follow to the stand-off between your boys and the True Knots. You lose a part of yourself. *More from Dan's POV*
Relationships: Dan "Danny" Torrance/Reader, Dan "Danny" Torrance/You
Series: Doctor Sleep (Dan Torrance) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561981
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	The True Knots

Dan knocked on your door late at night. You had a blanket wrapped around your shoulders and you rubbed the sleep out of your eyes. If he wasn’t on a mission, he would have considered staring at your sleepy state a little longer.

“I need your help,” he said.

You studied him for a long time. “Okay. Let me at least get dressed.”

“Of course.”

You came back out in some leggings and a long sweater, your hair in a loose ponytail. “Let’s go,” you said.

“How do you know I need you to come with me?”

“I can see it in your eyes. That and you didn’t follow me inside. Lead me where you need me, Danny.”

He watched your brow crease when he knocked on Billy’s door. Your expression remained the same as he asked Billy – and you – to trust him. He had a long story to tell.

Dan started from the beginning, his imaginary friend, Tony. He talked about how he could just understand things, know things about people when he was just a kid. He talked about his dad and the Overlook Hotel… the things that happened there. He explained his “shine” in detail, how he had an intuition about things. The more he talked, the more realization showed on your face. Dan guessed you were recalling the times he said something that didn’t make sense at the time, nuggets of information for the future or about you that you never told him. He finished with meeting Abra Stone and her shine.

“She wants me to go find this kid, get his glove, and bring it back to her. She wants to find the people who killed him. I need a car.”

“You can use mine as long as I can come along,” Billy said. “It’s always good to have another set of hands.”

“I want to come, too,” you added. “Abra sounds like a special girl. I want to help her with you.”

“Thank you. Both of you.”

* * *

It was a long drive. You took the first leg, driving most of the night. When Dan took over, you rode shotgun and curled up in your seat. Dan’s heart melted when you laid your head on the center console, partially using his arm as a pillow. You chose to lean toward him rather than the window and that gave him hope for something to grow, something he didn’t know already settled in your heart.

Abra appeared in the backseat beside a sleeping Billy, greeting him with a smile.

“Who’re they?” she asked.

“My friends.” He glanced at you. “My best friends.”

She tilted her head, eyes falling on you still using his arm in your sleep.

“Really? She’s just your best friend?”

“Yes… Okay… Maybe I… No. I do. I love her.”

“Did you tell her?”

“No. There hasn’t been a good time, Abra.”

“You should tell her.”

“Maybe when we take care of these people. Okay?”

Abra watched you shift and nuzzle your face against Dan’s arm. “You’re important to her, too, so don’t be scared.”

“I’m not. Aren’t you a little young to be giving me relationship advice?”

She shrugged.

Dan glanced at you as you sighed, promising himself to tell you how he felt for so long.

* * *

Billy took the final leg of the drive. For a few hours, you and Dan rode in the back. He intended to stay in the front, but when he helped a half-asleep you into the back, you wouldn’t let him go. As embarrassing as it was to see Billy watching you try and hold Dan hostage in your arms, Dan gave into your sleepy request. With seatbelts on, you twisted to lay your head on his lap.

“Guess you’re stuck back there until she wakes up,” Billy said.

Dan looked down at you, eyes softening. “Guess so.”

“She likes you a lot, you know. Never seen her so close to someone before.”

“You’ve mentioned that once. But she’s close to you.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same. You’re someone special to her. Maybe she has a little of that shining thing you’ve got and that’s why. Or maybe it’s something else.”

Dan ran his fingers through your hair absentmindedly. “Maybe she’s the special one.”

Billy smiled. “That she sure is.”

* * *

You were awake by the time Billy pulled up to where Dan was guiding him to. You peeked over Dan’s shoulder - he sat shotgun by then - and read the sign.

“This is it?” Billy didn’t look confident.

Dan nodded. “Pull in more. I’ll tell you when we’re there.”

Billy parked with his headlights pointing to a seemingly unsuspicious empty dirt area when Dan said he was there. A frightened remnant of the boy was still hovering in the area. Dan suddenly felt sick.

“I think you should stay in here, Y/N,” he said as he undid his seatbelt. “I don’t know what we might find, but it won’t be good.”

“Danny, I’ll be okay.” You put your hands on his and Billy’s shoulders. “Let me keep an eye out for people while you both dig.”

Dan looked deep into your eyes, noticing the way your cheeks darkened. “Don’t stick around if you can’t… if you don’t want to see anything. Please.” The last thing he wanted was for you to be as haunted as him.

“I promise I will get back into this vehicle if I need to.”

Billy looked between you both. “Well, let’s get to it then.”

You sang and hummed quietly, filling in the silence while the boys dug into the dirt. Everything was going well until Billy dropped his shovel and ran past you to vomit. Your first instinct was to rub his back. Just as you turned to go to him, a smell of something rotting reached you. Coughing, you covered your nose and looked at Dan who was covering the lower half of his face and digging in the hole they made. Your blood ran cold seeing the obvious toe of a shoe sticking out of the dirt.

As soon as Dan dug out a baseball glove, he stumbled away from the hole. He looked at you, seeing unshed tears in your eyes. If only he hadn’t been digging in a hole a poor kid was buried in… He never wanted to pull you into his arms so bad.

All three of you sat in the car, the headlights still shining on the hole.

“We should call the police,” Billy said.

Dan nodded. “I agree. We need do it anonymously.”

“I can do it,” you said as you pulled out your phone. “Get your things and get rid of any evidence we were here. What was his name?”

A few minutes later, you hung up and tossed your phone in the seat beside you.

Dan glanced back at you to find you wiping your eyes. “Hey, Billy? Let’s find a truck stop and get cleaned up. The police will find him.”

“You got it.”

* * *

Dan stood in the shower, scrubbing the dirt and smell of the kid off his body. All he wanted was to let the water fall over him so long that the night would be a distant nightmare. He couldn’t imagine what the poor boy’s family was thinking… what they would do when a DNA test confirmed the body as their missing son.

His thoughts drifted to you, to the sight of your eyes glassy. You weren’t even near enough to see him… body bloated, a sickly blue…

Dan turned the water off. 

He found you sitting in a booth at the Subway, your knees pulled up to your chest and your lips on the straw of your drink. Billy wasn’t there, so he guessed another shower finally opened up.

Dan sat next to you, looking at the tabletop. He knew trauma. He had some that still haunted him, but somehow, he had no idea what to say to you or what to do for you. All he knew is you needed him. He could feel it.

Finally looking at you, he tried to ignore the redness around your eyes from the tears you shed when you were alone. “Wanna take a walk?”

“We’re at a gas station, Danny,” you sniffled.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t walk around it. Please walk with me?”

You gave in to his pleading blue eyes.

You were quiet beside him, staring at the ground as you walked. He’d never seen you that way. You seemed so lost.

“Are you going to be okay?” Dan’s voice was soft, gentle, soothing.

“How… How could someone do that to… to a kid?”

“I don’t know, Y/N. People filled with evil, I guess. People who don’t care about anyone else except themselves.”

You fists clenched. “I want them to die, Danny. I’ve never felt that way about anyone… Not even criminals… But these people, whoever they are… they deserve to die. And your friend, Abra… She had to watch them kill him? That poor girl.”

On instinct, Dan hugged you close when he heard you sniffle harder than before. Your arms circled his waist and you let out what tears you had left on his shirt. His hand cradled the back of your head and he whispered what he hoped were soothing words. He felt tears prick his eyes from your remorse, your anger. You didn’t deserve to see anything like that.

“Things are going to get worse… aren’t they?” you asked as you rested your head on his chest. You used your sleeve to wipe your eyes.

“I wish they wouldn’t… for Abra’s sake and yours.”

Dan’s heart raced when you pulled back just enough to look at him. He expected you to be confused or timid by his subtle admittance of how important you were to him. Instead, he saw a light in your eyes akin to hope. Maybe it was because you hoped things wouldn’t worsen. He had no idea that your heart skipped at his words, hearing how much he cared.

His hand moved by its own volition, coming up to the side of your face. His thumb grazed the skin along your cheekbone, feeling the warmth as you began to blush. You were a sight to behold.

“There you two are!”

Dan’s hand dropped and you let go of him. Even though both of you smiled warmly at Billy, disappointment sat deep on your hearts. Dan was so close to telling you how he felt. _So close_.

* * *

Abra was so much more than you imagined her to be. She was witty, strong, and unbelievably brave. You took an instant liking to her. Dan smiled seeing how you started to act like a big sister to her. If something were to happen to him, Abra would have someone to protect her outside her family.

Billy stood in front of you, hands on your shoulders in the Stone’s driveway. “Do you want to stay with Abra or come with us?”

They had a brilliant idea to trick the True Knots and lead them off where Billy and Dan could kill them with rifles. As much as you wanted to be there for Abra, something in your gut was telling you to go with Dan and Billy.

Dan had mixed feelings about you coming along. Even though you’d be safer with Abra, he could keep an eye on you if you came with them. Being in love with someone made decisions much harder than they needed to be.

* * *

They made you stay in the car. Dan gave you one of his jackets to cover yourself if anyone felt the need to peek into the car. That thought alone nearly turned Dan into a nervous wreck. If you were caught, he couldn’t live with himself.

You remained hidden until you heard the rifles fire off. Screams and horrifying choking sounds lingered in the air after each shot. You peeked out the window just as one of the True Knots took a bullet and phased into dust. You should have been horrified, but deep down, you were downright gleeful to watch them for. Like you told Dan… they deserved it.

Dan and Billy neared the RV just as a young woman climbed out, saying something to Dan and sending him to his knees with words.

Carefully and quietly, you excited the car. You weren’t sure what you could do, but you would stop her if she tried to hurt your boys.

It happened too fast. Dan collapsed. She took his gun and held it toward him. He promptly woke up. You started to come out from behind the car when Billy shot her. She fell away, her skin flashing between human and skeleton as she writhed on the floor.

“Billy, don’t!” Dan said, trying to get on his feet to keep Billy from getting closer.

“Kill yourself,” she said to Billy as her final words.

You ran forward shouting at him to stop. Dan reached out to get the gun away. The woman on the ground cackled as the gunshot sounded. Billy fell.

“Billy!” you screeched. Dan had never heard a sound so haunting.

The woman laughed more before turning to dust.

You fell to your knees, sliding toward Billy’s lifeless body and shouting at him to wake up. He couldn’t be dead. Not your Billy. He’d never do such a thing on purpose. She _made_ him do it… Somehow she made him die.

Dan cried as you collapsed on Billy’s chest and wept from your soul. He had always been a brother-figure to you and Dan could feel the despair rippling off you in waves. You only had Dan left… Abra. He could sense your feelings of abandonment, of being lost. It was time for him to be there for you in the way Billy needed him to.

“Y/N…” Dan choked out, sitting on his knees beside you. He placed his hand on your back.

Still sobbing, you slowly sat up and curled into Dan. You muttered incoherently, sometimes letting out a “why him?” or a “fuck her.” Each time he felt you shake with new tears, he hugged you tighter. All he wanted to do was make you smile again. He couldn’t bear seeing you that way. He couldn’t live seeing you so lost, so hurt.

Everything came to a halt when he heard Abra call out in his head followed by silence. As much as you needed to mourn, as much as he needed to mourn, Abra was in danger. She needed both of you.

“Y/N,” Dan said against your hair. “I… I’m so sorry, but… Abra… she, she needs us. I think they got her.”

You sat up, looking over at Billy. “We need to call the police. We need to get him home to his family.”

“I’ll take care of it. We’ll get Billy…” He took a shaky breath. “We’ll get him home.”

You rested your hand on Billy’s head, ignoring the blood. “Thank you, Billy… Thank you for making everything feel like home.” Fresh tears spilled over your cheeks. “You were the best brother a girl could ask for… Thank you for treating me like family. I’m going to miss you… so… damn… much. I love you, bubby.”

Dan took your hand and squeezed it. He didn’t have words to say to comfort you. His heart hurt too much.

Neither of you wanted to leave him there, but Abra needed you. Rose couldn’t have her.

You cried all over again as Dan drove away from Billy. He struggled to keep his voice steady as he told the operator where to send the authorities. The two of you would be long gone before they’d get there. But parts of you would linger because Billy was a special guy. Billy was one of a kind.


End file.
